Like Ships in the Night
by ifyouevercomebackx
Summary: What if you knew a secret that would tear apart the one person who means the most to you? Nick and Miley have been together for a long time. He knows something that she doesn't about her brother's fatal car accident. When someone finds out his secret, how is he supposed to keep it hidden while helping his grieving girlfriend? ON HIATUS AS OF 1ST DECEMBER 2012.
1. Chapter 1

"I don't want you to go."

Nick grinned. He truly did have an amazing girlfriend. He pulled her closer to him and murmured softly, "I have Chemistry." He looked down at her disappointed face and chuckled. "I know, baby, but I'm already having enough trouble with it."

Miley frowned up at her boyfriend. "I can tutor you," she replied helpfully.

"And do you honestly believe that I would concentrate on Chemistry when you're talking about particles colliding?" he teased, an eyebrow raised as he looked right back at her.

Miley flushed. "Nicky!" she giggled. She slapped his chest playfully and bit her lip.

Her laugh, so light that it sounded as though it was a tinkling wind chime, brought a smile to his lips. Her giggle brightened his day every time he heard it. It was like a sweet melody he couldn't get enough of, like his favourite song that was played over and over on his iPod.

"I'll see you at lunch," he promised, yet he made no move to leave. They were still leaning against the lockers, staring at each other.

"I love you," she whispered. Her voice was honest and raw, filled with sincerity.

"I love you too." Nick placed a tender kiss on her forehead and backed away. "Lunch," he promised once more as he reversed down the hallway, grinning at her.

"I'll meet you at your car."

Nick flashed his teeth at her with one more grin and winked playfully at her before turning on his heel and walking away from her. He made his way from Miley's locker to the science department in the east wing, practically whistling with happiness as he walked.

He had been dating Miley since he was fifteen years old. As he approached the age of eighteen, every day with Miley was still a joy. He couldn't imagine being with another girl, at least not in the way he was with Miley. They were connected – she knew what he was thinking before he even said it out loud, and he knew everything about her that there was to know. According to their friends, 'perfect' was too weak a word to describe their relationship.

He passed the wall dedicated to Miley's late brother, Jackson. A memorial had been erected soon after he passed away in a tragic car accident two years previously. The floor-to-ceiling mural depicted everything Jackson had loved about life – sports, music, his school, nature.

As he did every day, Nick looked up at the mural and let out a guilty sigh, inaudible to anyone but himself. The death of her brother had torn Miley apart, and though he had helped her through her grief, she could never know what he knew about the crash, and that killed him more than anything. He stared up at the wall and shook his head. Even though it had been nearly two years, he thought about that night every single day.

He moved on from the mural and approached Mr Thompson's Chemistry class. He leaned against the wall beside the door and waited patiently.

His best friend, Joe, raced up to him. "Dude, have you seen Stephanie Clark's new rack? All the girls coming out of the locker room were saying that her dad got her a boob job for her birthday and –"

"Not interested," Nick said quickly, not giving Joe a chance to finish his sentence.

"Oh, that's right. Princess Miley has you by the balls and has done since freshman year. Geez, man, when are you going to hook up with a new chick? You've spent your entire high school life with the one girl! When you have kids, are you honestly going to tell them that you spent pretty much your whole adolescence with your first girlfriend?"

Nick smiled. "Why would I want to hook up with somebody new? Dude, trust me when I say that if Miley dumped me tonight, no other girl would even begin to compare to her."

Joe groaned and punched Nick's arm. "You're so whipped, dude. This whole being in love crap has turned you into such a girl. Next thing I know you'll be buying tampons and scented candles and lace bras."

Nick chuckled. Joe's comments reminded him of the night at the beach when he and Miley had been making out in his car and Miley had pulled off her shirt to reveal the sexiest little bra he had ever seen her in.

"Dude, stop thinking about Miley in her underwear before you get a boner," Joe hissed, disgusted. "How is your little sweetheart this morning?"

"She's good."

"You've got nothing better for me than good?"

"I didn't think you'd want to know what we were doing beside her locker before class," Nick joked.

Joe's face contorted in revulsion at his best friend. "Dude, you did not hook up with your girlfriend in front of her locker." He stared at him and shrieked. "Oh my God, man! You totally did!"

"I wouldn't really call it hooking up," Nick replied.

"What else would you call it?"

"A good morning kiss, perhaps."

Joe turned away, disgusted. "You are repugnant."

"I didn't think you knew any words with more than two syllables," Nick teased.

"I was helping Dem with her English homework last night. She made me find all these words in the dictionary for her. Now I feel like I ate one of the stupid things," Joe replied.

The classroom door opened. "It's our anniversary next week," Nick said as he led the way into the classroom, taking their usual table in the second row from the back.

"You know what that means, right?"

_How could I forget?_ he thought. Jackson's anniversary would follow the week after, just as it had the year before. The anniversary had made theirs a pretty miserable affair. Miley had hardly touched her dinner, and she certainly wasn't in the mood for a conversation.

"Have you two ever had a normal anniversary?"

Nick thought about it and realised that they probably hadn't. The week after their first one, Jackson's accident happened. The following year had been a disaster. That brought them to the current year, one he hoped wouldn't be quite as bad as the previous one.

"Mi's trying not to think about any of that," he replied quickly, not bothering to answer the second question.

"She can't exactly escape it. It isn't for another two weeks and there are already people laying flowers beside the mural," warned Joe. "That anniversary is all this town is going to be talking about for the next month."

Nick had noticed the blue and yellow flowers – school colours, of course – below the full-wall painting, yet he had chosen to ignore it and pretend that nobody had even thought to look into flowers yet. The week of Jackson's death was, believe it or not, as bad for him as it was for Miley. It filled him with guilt and sadness when he made the usual terrible realisation that there was nothing he could do to take away Miley's grief. He wanted them to have a perfect anniversary before Miley's usual three-week grieving process.

"I still can't believe that you haven't told her," mumbled Joe, taking his book out of his backpack.

"Keep your voice down!" Nick hissed, looking around to make sure that no one heard. "Jackson told me that night to never let Miley know what happened. Therefore, I have not and will not tell her."

"Her brother died in that car, Nick. She deserves to know the truth about what happened that night."

Nick looked away and coughed to give himself time to think. "I'm doing what he asked because we both knew her well enough to know that she would handle the truth badly." He closed his eyes and sighed. "I feel guilty every single day. You know that. I wish that I could tell her, but I can't."

"Maybe if you told her –"

"I promised Jackson," he snapped. "His last wish was that Miley never find out, and I intend to keep it the way Jackson wanted it to be – hidden."

* * *

Nick approached his car and saw Miley sitting on the hood, laughing at something across the parking lot. As usual, she looked beautiful. Her blonde highlights caught the sun and shone golden.

"Hey, gorgeous," he called.

Miley looked up and smiled. Her smile could light up an entire building, never mind a room.

"Hey, baby!" she called back excitedly. "I've missed you." She approached him and wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could.

"Cafeteria or Giuseppe's?"

"Giuseppe's. I promised Demi that I would talk to her there."

Nick opened his passenger door and held it open for her. "Hop in," he said.

She clambered into his TrailBlazer and buckled her seatbelt. She glanced nervously around the car.

Nick sighed as he walked around the car. The accident still affected her every day, and she hadn't even been in the car with Jackson. It had taken five weeks after the accident to convince her that a car wasn't a rolling death machine.

"So, what are you going to get?" he asked in an attempt to distract her from the idea of the accident.

"Maybe a slice of pizza," she replied, her voice distant as she surveyed the road carefully.

Nick reached out and rested his hand on her knee. A simple, silent sign of reassurance, yet her entire body relaxed almost immediately at his touch.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," he said softly.

"Yes?"

"Will you be my date to Homecoming?"

Miley laughed, a light and airy sound. "You don't have to ask, baby," she teased. "We've been together for years. I just assume that we go together now."

"I wanted to be a gentleman for you, even if I do think it's kind of lame," he murmured.

"Thank you," she whispered, squeezing his hand. "You're adorable."

It was clear that both of them were thinking of Jackson as they drove through McCready's crossroad. The car was filled with silence as they eyed the flowers laid at the sight of the crash.

"It's his anniversary soon, you know."

"I know."

"I can't do this alone, Nick."

He looked over and smiled weakly. His heart broke for the girl he had loved since he was fifteen. "You don't have to do it alone, baby. You've got me." He held her hand tightly, keeping his other hand firmly on the steering wheel.

"I miss him so much."

"We all do."

"He was a good friend to you."

"And a good brother to you."

Miley looked over at her boyfriend and smiled sadly. "He used to tell me that he wished you would just put us all out of our misery and marry me, even if we were practically kids back then."

Nick grinned over at her. "He used to laugh at me and tease me about being whipped in the locker room after football practice."

"You always were whipped."

"Only for you, beautiful."

His compliment brightened her face entirely. She rested her hand on his knee and watched as he pulled into the parking lot at Giuseppe's.

"Aren't you coming out?" Miley asked when Nick didn't get out of the car.

"You go ahead," he said. "I have to find a picture in the glove compartment for Joe. Something about Demi's birthday."

Miley nodded and disappeared into the small local café. Nick leaned over and reached into the glove compartment. He found the picture from the beach that he was looking for. Underneath the photograph was a small envelope, his name written on it in bold capitals.

**NICK.**

He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a small piece of notepaper.

**I KNOW YOUR SECRET.**

He froze and dropped the paper into his lap. He had many small secrets, but nothing as big as what he had promised Jackson he would keep hidden. He knew that the letter meant only one thing – someone knew what had happened the night of Jackson's accident.

He decided to read on, though he knew that it probably wasn't such a good idea.

**DO AS I SAY AND SHE WON'T FIND OUT.**

He knew instinctively that 'she' was Miley, though he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that this person was trying to involve Miley in any way, shape or form.

It had to be a joke, he thought. It had to be Joe or his brother or one of the guys from the football team. Whoever it was, they couldn't be serious. He wasn't going to do what somebody asked just so he could keep a secret, though in all honesty, it was a giant secret that he had to keep.

He stuffed the note back in the envelope and then back in the glove compartment. Miley was waiting for him; he didn't have time to decide on what to do.

He slammed his car door shut and slowly made his way inside the café. He immediately spotted Joe, Demi and Miley at their usual table. He approached them with a false grin glued to his face.

"Hey!" He leaned down and kissed Miley's cheek, even though he had seen her only minutes before. "How is everybody's first day going?"

Miley furrowed her brow and leaned closer to him. "Baby, are you okay? You seem a little tense."

Nick couldn't exactly admit what his problem was, so he kept quiet. He nodded, that grin still plastered on, and pretended like everything was, because in reality, what else could he do?

* * *

**So this is my new story :-) Hopefully you all enjoyed the first chapter. I'll have the next chapter up soon x**


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so so so sorry! I know that it's been about two months since I posted the first chapter, and really, I don't want to give you excuses because they won't be good enough. Nothing can justify waiting so long to post, and I apologise. Please enjoy the new chapter.**

* * *

They drove back to school in utter silence at the end of lunch. Nick had been oddly quiet, while Miley was almost scared to ask what was bothering him. He was so tense that she was just waiting for him to explode.

Suddenly, Miley's words came out like lava from a volcano, completely unstoppable. "I can't take this silence," she blurted. "What's going on with you? You've been freakishly quiet ever since we got back in the car."

"I just have a lot on my mind," he replied quietly.

"Like what?"

_Anything to put her off the actual problem_, he thought. "Like you," he replied. It wasn't necessarily a lie, but it was better than the whole truth. He _was_ thinking about her, so it wasn't like he was being dishonest, although his thoughts weren't related to her directly. He was thinking about how to keep his secret from her, and about how to keep her happy, and about how much better her life would be if he could keep that one secret from her. He was, of course, considering his secret, which in turn led to thinking about the effect it would have on her life if she knew.

"You're the sweetest boyfriend ever, do you know that?"

Nick looked away and pulled into his usual spot in the student parking lot – if only she knew. "I'll meet you here after school and I'll give you a ride home, okay?"

"Ice cream?"

He couldn't help but smile. She was like a little kid when it came to ice cream. "Always," he replied.

She squealed excitedly. "Ah! Best boyfriend ever!"

He smiled once more and kissed her cheek, not looking her in the eye. "I'll meet you here," he repeated.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He watched as she climbed out of his car and walked across the parking lot towards Demi, who was waiting by the entrance. She looked so happy that he knew at once that he was right in keeping his secret from her. The events of that night were better kept a secret. They would break her heart otherwise.

He got out and locked the car. He leaned against it and observed the last-minute lunchtime rush. Cars swerved in to their spaces in an effort not to be late for class. People were laughing and shouting as they crossed the concrete to the main building. Teachers yelled for people to stop running in front of oncoming cars. It was the usual afternoon chaos.

Nick pushed himself off the car and slowly walked across the lot to the back entrance.

Joe approached him at once. "Hey, man! What took you so long driving back?"

"I got here like five minutes ago."

"Oh, making out with Miley in the backseat, huh?" Joe asked with a wink.

Nick didn't laugh at his friend's teasing. "I'm not in the mood for this today, Joe," he muttered, leading the way through the doors and into the bustling hallway.

He furrowed his brow at Nick and sighed. "What's up with you today? You were weird at Giuseppe's too and now you're being all moody like one of those vampires out of that Twilight crap that Demi made me watch."

Nick looked around. "I need to ask you something," he whispered softly when he was sure that no one was close enough to hear them.

"What's going on?" Joe asked worriedly, noticing his friend's edginess.

"Are you playing some kind of joke on me? Because if you are, I've worked it out and it really isn't funny, Joe," Nick warned, his voice low.

"Dude, trust me, I haven't played any jokes on you lately, not since I got that boyband's CD stuck in your car stereo. What's going on?" Joe grabbed Nick's arm to stop him from walking any further. "Nick, you're scaring me here. What's going on with you?"

"Do you remember what I told you about the night of Jackson's accident?"

Joe chuckled slightly. "Of course I remember. We were talking about it this morning."

"I think somebody knows."

"What do you mean by 'somebody knows'?"

"I got a note in my car. They said that, if I do what they say, Miley won't find out." Nick fished around in his pocket and pulled the note out for Joe to inspect. "I don't have many other secrets, so I'm guessing that it's the Jackson thing. What am I supposed to do? I can't just give in to what this person wants, but Miley cannot find out about this, Joe."

"Okay, calm down. Everybody has secrets. Are you sure it wasn't one of the guys from the team?" Joe asked. "Maybe they're just screwing with you. This person probably doesn't even have a clue what happened that night."

"This thing is for real, Joe. I'm sure of it."

"How do you even know that it isn't someone playing some kind of sick joke, though?"

"I have a feeling."

"Is there proof?"

Nick stopped in front of his locker and sighed. "I don't need proof. This thing is giving me a bad vibe. I just have a feeling that this is for real. This isn't just some high school joke, dude." He entered his combination and opened the door. "People don't just write notes like that for –"

Nick stopped mid-sentence. He froze completely, staring at his locker with a look of horror.

"You okay, buddy?" Joe asked worriedly.

Nick slowly lifted his hand and reached in to the locker, moving so slowly that he looked like some kind of zombie. He extracted an average-sized photograph of Jackson. He turned the photo over to find a message scrawled on the back in block capitals, just like the note he had found in his car.

**I WASN'T KIDDING. I DOUBT THAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND WANTS TO BE WITH SOMEONE THAT HAS DONE WHAT YOU'VE DONE.**

Joe snatched the photograph from Nick's hand and scrunched it up into a ball. "Forget this note," he hissed, looking around to make sure that no one saw it. "This person is just trying to mess with your head."

"They're doing a damn good job."

Joe threw the photo in the trash, grabbed Nick's arm, slammed the locker shut and stomped down the hall, pulling Nick through groups and around corners. They eventually reached the library, where they were to spend their study period. Joe led Nick to the back of the library, where they sat down at a table in a deserted corner.

"They're only doing a good job if you let them do a good job," he said quietly. "Right now, Nick, you're letting them screw with your head."

"It's hard not to let them screw with my head when they're leaving me threatening and anonymous notes about my girlfriend," Nick snarled. "It's alright for you, man! You haven't got a secret as big as this to keep."

"No, I just have to keep yours."

Nick threw open his History textbook to distract himself from the reminder of the fact that he had burdened Joe with the information about the accident as well, and that he wasn't the only one that was dying to tell Miley the truth. He looked around nervously. "We don't know who has been listening to us and when," he said to stop the conversation from turning into a proper argument. "I mean, how does somebody just find out something like that?"

"Well, when was the last party you got drunk at?"

"I guess it was about a month ago. What has that got to do with anything?"

Joe sighed and leaned forward. "We all know that you don't handle your alcohol well," he whispered. "You get too honest and you tell people things that are better left unsaid. Like, remember that time the first time we ever got drunk that you told Selena that she needed to lose a few pounds? She went on a full-on diet after that for six weeks, and you didn't even remember saying anything to her. What if you told somebody that night about what happened and you don't remember? What if that person has been waiting until now to use this against you?"

"Why would someone wait for something like that?"

"It's almost the anniversary. Maybe whoever this is wants to add salt to the wound. Maybe they realize just how much you have to lose," Joe explained.

"I have just as much to lose now as I did a month ago."

"Maybe so, but with the accident fresh in everybody's minds, everyone knows that Miley is going to be pretty emotional, so what better time to make you lose the most important person in your life than the anniversary of her brother's death?" Joe dropped his pen and looked around nervously again. "What if this person really does know everything, Nick? What if they know that this information really can ruin everything for you?"

"Maybe I should just go to the cops," Nick said, vocalizing his thoughts.

"No, calling the cops is NOT a good idea. Do you not watch television, Nicholas? The bad guys just get angrier when you involve the cops! Besides, you can't tell the cops about this person without telling them about the accident, and you cannot afford for them to do that."

"I can't just sit here and stew over it," Nick snapped. "The longer I leave this, the more time this person has to think about what damage they can do." He hesitated, then stared up at Joe. "You've changed your tune. I thought you thought it was just someone screwing with my head."

"I was only trying to calm you down," Joe replied simply, taking a sip from his bottle of water.

"So you think that this person is for real?"

"Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. All I know is that you need to figure out what you're going to do about this before you get any more messages from this person. I mean, are you going to do what they say?"

Nick took a deep breath and buried his face in his History book. "Do I have any choice?"

* * *

**Thank you to everybody who reviewed. If you haven't already gotten in to it, please check out my other story, A Thousand Miles From Home. I promise that I will try as hard as I can to get the next chapter out way sooner. Hopefully you enjoyed this :-)**


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